Sources said authorities raided the doctors’ homes and offices for the files in search of evidence of distribution of controlled substances. Dr. Jahani has been sued by the government for defrauding taxpayers of $5 million for reporting false Medicare claims while practicing in Texas.

A number of elderly patients were entering and exiting the Delta office Thursday. Receptionists in the business at 164 W. Third St. in Delta told people that Medicare and Medicaid patients could not be seen Thursday, and their medical files would be returned to the office within two weeks.

Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver, said he could not verify when patients’ files would be returned.

News of the raid spread through Delta, and some residents said they had long heard rumblings of Jahani’s lawsuit in Texas before he started practicing locally in 2000.

Administrator Tom Mingen of Delta County Memorial Hospital said Jahani’s privileges will remain intact as long as his medical license and DEA registration is current. Doctors must be registered with the DEA to prescribe drugs.

Delta resident Cary Fry wondered what the DEA raid would mean for her files. Fry, 28, said she received a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan at Jahani’s referral, but she couldn’t find a doctor to interpret the results.

A Delta woman waiting in the parking lot outside Jahani’s office on Thursday said she was a patient but didn’t want to give her name.

The woman said Jahani is a very popular doctor “who cares about his patients.”

She said she appreciates that he’s a Christian man and has religious photos in his clinic and sometimes has religious music playing throughout the office.

She also said patients can wait for hours for appointments that last only a few minutes.